Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke on Friday, shortly after serving him a notice prohibiting a proposed ‘Lehra Do Tiranga’ march at Connaught Place, while police and security forces moved to disperse crowds gathered in the area.
Dipke was taken away from the residence of Anish Gawande, spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), in Karol Bagh. The detention came about an hour after police personnel served him the notice, according to a report by The Indian Express.
In a live video shared on the CJP’s Instagram page, Dipke questioned a police officer who was part of the team that delivered the notice. He said the group had not announced a protest but intended to wave the Tricolour, and asked whether that would also be disallowed. “Is the Tiranga unlawful?” he asked the officer.
Police personnel were also deployed around Gawande’s residence on Rani Jhansi Road, Dipke alleged. Speaking at a media briefing, he said the group had called for a protest on October 10 and questioned the deployment of forces, including personnel brought in from Jammu and Kashmir, according to The Indian Express report.
The CJP has been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. Friday’s march was also linked to the arrests earlier this week of CJP leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.
The proposed gathering was planned at Central Park in Connaught Place. The group had earlier called for a march after Jantar Mantar was de-notified as a protest site, shifting the planned location to Central Park. All India Students’ Association’s Neha Bora and the Aam Aadmi Party were also expected to mark their presence at the gathering.
The developments place Delhi’s designated protest spaces and the police’s management of public assemblies at the centre of the incident. With crowds gathering at Connaught Place and security forces deployed to disperse them, the episode involved not only the detention of an organiser but also the administration of access to one of the capital’s busiest public and commercial districts.
The Indian Express report did not provide details of the legal provisions cited in the police notice, the duration of Dipke’s detention or the number of people detained or removed from Connaught Place. The police response and any further proceedings were not detailed in the supplied report.
